OU architecture students are taking advantage of the lessons they learn in class to help a disabled man overcome the obstacles he faces at home.

The students are participating in the Freedom by Design program, a branch program of the American Institute of Architecture Students, enabling them to use the skills they are acquiring in class to help residents in the community.

“I think the part of [Freedom by Design] that’s rewarding is being able to enable someone to use their house,” said Courtney Sawyer, architecture junior and co-public relations chairwoman for Freedom by Design. “It’s nice to be able to make someone’s life easier for them and to use the skills we’re learning right now and apply them to a situation where we could help somebody.”

Sawyer said this year’s client is a Norman resident who has peripheral vascular disease and has recently lost both of his legs.

“Our main focus is to enable mobility and access for our clients by making additions or modifications to their house or home,” Sawyer said.

She said the group is planning to add a ramp to the house, make sure the doors are accessible by Americans with Disabilities Act standards and add railings to his bathrooms.

Sawyer said this group is mostly funded through student fundraising initiatives.

She said they sold Halloween candy around school and will participate in a 5K run this spring. In addition, they have been asking for donations from companies around Norman.

“A big part of this project being scheduled depends on funding,” Sawyer said. “We’d like to start as soon as possible, but we’re looking at doing this in the spring.”

Sawyer said the Freedom by Design at OU currently has six students and two mentors, an architect mentor and a construction mentor, and she said they are planning to recruit more students in the OU College of Architecture.

“The construction project will probably take three to four days, depending on how many volunteers we have,” Sawyer said.

Sarah Abel, an architecture senior who sits on the national board of the American Institute of Architecture Students, said the Freedom by Design program has existed at a national level for seven years with OU joining five years ago.

Abel thinks it is good that architecture majors can go out into the community because they are gaining so much by getting to build what they are designing.

“I think this is a good chance for architects to start building those relationships with clients,” she said.

However, Abel said, the hardest part about Freedom by Design is finding a client, which they aren’t really in a position to do well right now.

“We’ll go to different agencies to find a client, but they will say that they don’t have anyone,” she said.

Architecture junior Beth Pearcy said this is her first year to get involved with Freedom by Design.

“I think being able to go and use everything I’m learning in school and helping someone is really cool,” she said.

Pearcy said the American Institute of Architecture Students and Freedom by Design have been working together on this project.

“It’s really cool because we [architecture students] are all working together to do something for someone else,” she said.

Freedom by Design meets at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the College of Architecture to discuss the building project.